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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
FANS with tickets for the aborted Castle Lager Premier Soccer League (PSL) matchday two games will use the same tickets for the rescheduled matches to be played this weekend.

Football fans were left fuming when some suspended Zifa board members connived to withdraw match officials in retaliation to their sanction by the Sports and Recreation Commission.

Kennedy Ndebele, the PSL chief executive officer, said fans should bring their Covid-19 vaccination and national identity cards to gain entry.

“We commend fans for their behaviour when matches were aborted because of a senseless decision to withdraw referees. We are lucky that the aborted matches were during the week; imagine if it was a weekend and there were huge crowds? It would have been disaster,” said Ndebele.

“Since the games were aborted and not abandoned, fans that had paid will be refunded by granting them passage for the weekend games. When they bought tickets, we recorded their details and their names are with us, so they simply have to bring their Covid-19 vaccination and ID cards. At all the centres we collected fans’ data as per the Covid-19 standard operating protocols (SOPs). The fans will be told which gates to use for the weekend games,” he said.

Fans had paid US$10 for the rest of the ground, with the grandstand wings going for US$15 and VIP entry (US$20). Payment was in local currency at the prevailing interbank rate.

The PSL has since revised gate charges and the cheapest ticket is now US$3, grandstands (US$5) and VIP (US$10).

“The fans had paid to watch matchday two games and that’s all that will happen. Unfortunately, there won’t be any carry overs,” Ndebele said.

A big turnout is expected this weekend since the gate charges have been reduced.

The PSL had justified high gate charges as a crowd control measure to facilitate for a gradual return of fans, while addressing SOP shortcomings. — @ZililoR